WEBVTT

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Hello.

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I think it's fair to say I
don't know Francisco Alarcón

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in the way that people
generally know other people.

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I've never had a
drink with the man.

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I don't know his
taste in movies.

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I didn't even really know,
until about 15 minutes ago,

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what he looked like.

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So I got to know
him the way that we

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get to know other writers--

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through words.

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He was born in California.

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When he was six, he
moved down to Mexico.

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And when you move from
America to Mexico at any age,

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I think you know
that you stand out.

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But that fades.

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You grow up and you become
a part of things, right?

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At 18, he moved
back to California

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with $5 in his pocket.

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He worked as a dishwasher and
a grape picker for some time.

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And these, as we
know in California,

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are jobs that
immigrants usually do.

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He was not an immigrant.

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He was a United States citizen.

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Again, he's working next
to people who craved

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the sort of status that he had.

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He knew that he stood out.

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Now, he also wrote--

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and he still does write--
as an openly gay poet

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in a community that
doesn't quite understand

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what homosexuality really is.

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Again, he stands
out a little bit.

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But it's dramatic, and
a little bit misleading,

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to say something like, Francisco
Alarcón is constantly alienated

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from his surroundings
because he's not.

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He affirms his role in the
communities that he lives

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in-- running
workshops in schools,

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writing bilingual
books of poetry--

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which you can buy outside--

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for children, teaching
at the university level.

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He's a part of the
places where he goes.

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He's here for just a few days
and he's leading 3 workshops--

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well, he's doing one reading
and leading 2 workshops.

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I mean, just three
days, three events,

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where he comes here to help out.

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We're about to meet a
man who embraces others.

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These acts are just as
communal as picking grapes.

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He understands how the
clutter of history behind us

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affects how people live
their lives in the present.

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I'm going to read a poem
of his to illustrate this.

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"'Banderas.'
[SPEAKING SPANISH] Flags--

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stupid rags soaked in blood."

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Now, flags, as we all know, are
usually on flagpoles, right?

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We never really see them
soaked in blood anywhere

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unless you do that
at your house,

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I don't know what you do.

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But you have a poem
that brings to us

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the sort of surefire definition
of flags as bloody rags.

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And this is a political gesture.

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Yes.

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It's obviously one
because it's grounded

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in a history, a certain history.

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And because it's political,
it belongs to us,

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it belongs to the readers.

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Again, it's a communal piece
of writing that he has for us.

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Now, there are poets who
prefer hermitage to this sort

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of writing.

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There are poets who prefer the
abstruse to the accessible.

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The range of possible
poets is tremendous,

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as anyone who
reads poetry knows.

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Now, imagine the
teenager who writes

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in her bedroom about a
stepmother she absolutely

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hates.

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Imagine the physician who
leaves work late at night

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and sits in his dimly-lit car
trying to figure out how best

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to capture a red wheelbarrow.

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Imagine now, Francisco Alarcón,
who sees writing as communal

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who sees words as a way to
connect with people like us,

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who are so far removed from him.

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Who understands that even though
we don't even know what he

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looks like-- we're
about to find out--

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We can be moved by the
slow march of his six words

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on a tiny piece of paper.

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"Flags-- stupid rags
soaked in blood."

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Ladies and gentlemen,
thanks to the Poetry Center

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and the Francis
McClelland Institute

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for young Children
and Families, we

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don't have to imagine
this sort of poet.

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Please join me in welcoming
Francisco X. Alarcón.

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[APPLAUSE]

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